DK - The American Civil War

THE RISE OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY

The Republican Party exercised increasing

power in Congress, but it prepared for the

election of 1860 by seeking candidates

who could carry the more moderately

anti-slavery states it lost in 1856.

A NORTH IS BORN

Republicans tapped into the resentment of

Northerners who knew, based on the 1850

census, that they had the majority of the nation’s

population, wealth, and industry. They used

corruption in Kansas ❮❮ 30–31 and the Dred

Scott decision by the U.S.

Supreme Court ❮❮ 26–27

to raise fears of the spread of

slavery throughout the Union.

THE 1860 ELECTION

Four groups competed

in the election: the

Republican Party, the

Constitutional Union Party

(which also advocated

Union), and the Northern

and Southern factions of

a now split Democratic

Party. The Republicans

selected a moderate

candidate in Abraham

Lincoln 38–39 ❯❯,

who won without a

single electoral vote

from the South and

without a popular

majority 36–37 ❯❯.

AFTER

REPUBLICAN

RIBBON

Republican running mates in the 1856 election

The presidential candidate was John C. Frémont, senator

for California in 1850–51. His vice presidential

candidate, William L. Dayton, won the nomination over

Abraham Lincoln. They campaigned under the slogan

“Free soil, free labor, free speech, free men.”

“The question

to be decided

is who shall

rule this

nation—the

Slave States

or the Free

States.”

THE FREMONTER, AUGUST 22, 1856